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May 22 2018

Burlington's Superintedent Conti to Head Mass School Superintendents Association

By: BNEWS

Burlington Public Schools’ leader is now the head of a statewide association focused on education leadership.

The Massachusetts School Superintendents Association chose Burlington Public Schools Superintendent Eric Conti as its president for the 2018-19 school year, a release from the organization announced.

Dr. Conti, who has served as superintendent in Burlington since 2008, said he wants to focus on ensuring students have the skills they need to compete and thrive in the modern world.

“I want to continue to focus on updating our Massachusetts curricular pathways, from elementary through high school, to include expanded opportunities for computer science instruction,” Dr. Conti said. “These pathways have to be made available to all of our students – urban, rural, and suburban. We are in a 50 state competition, a global competition. While we have new Digital Literacy and Computer Science standards, we have to guard against standardization. Computer science is an area where over-regulation will slow us down.”

Dr. Conti saie he also wants to focus on equitable funding statewide for schools, so that no school system is underfunded.

“I plan on being as invested in advocating for the state support of Brockton and Chelsea students as I am in advocating for the state support of Burlington students,” he said. “We all need to make this commitment. Some of the best instruction in Massachusetts is taking place in urban and rural districts with the least resources. I am in awe of what some of our schools are accomplishing and I am saddened we are not providing all our schools with the resources they need to be successful.”

Conti said it is especially important to work toward stability in superintendent’s office statewide, as it is critical to teaching and learning for superintendents to have the time to implement a mission and vision for teaching and learning. He said he wants to work closely with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to clearly communicate that a revolving superintendency is in no community’s best interest.